Vehicle repair problems

[RV30]

Hello

I put my campervan into a sole trader garage for a respray and some repairs to the body. I had to move home unexpectedly and I now live 300 miles away from the garage.

The sole trader garage has taken two years to do some works but it's still not complete and progress is painfully slow. He doesn't answer emails but I do speak to him on the phone.

Every two weeks he promises the works will be done and yet when the deadline comes, they aren't complete.

I have paid him double the agreed fee.

I need to get my vehicle back and find someone else to do the works. I'm frightened he will not release it and will at the last minute demand more money. He has said he doesn't want more money but he's lied about everything else. I expect him to demand more money. This would be extortion.

What can I do? He's a shady sole trader. He won't give me his home address.

Will I have to sue him in the county court!? Is that something I can do myself? If he attempts to extort money from me, would I have to obtain an injunction to get the vehicle back?

I have monies to "pay under protest" but feel very angry with the way I have been treated and the constant delays and failure to finish the works.

Would I have to make time of the essence?

Please help. This has made me so unwell. I just want my campervan back so I can go touring. I have paid everything we agreed and more.

[Pezza54]

I am shocked you have let this work (body repair and respray) go on for 2 years. Has the repairer provided good reasons why the job is taking so long?
Did you have a quotation or estimate for the work and was a timescale agreed at the outset? Definitely don't pay any more money. Are there any grounds for the dealer doubling the price for the work?

After all this time can you be sure he has still got the vehicle? A round trip of 600 miles is a long way to visit his garage to see how the work is going. Ask the trader to text or email some photos.

You need to write to the dealer stating that you want the work to the campervan finished and ready for collection by within 2 weeks at the latest, otherwise you will consider starting court action

If you have the address of the trader's garage you do not need his home address for a court claim

You can start a court claim yourself

Under the Consumer Rights Act, if no price or timescale for the work is agreed, the trader must complete the work for a reasonable price within a reasonable amount of time